The defending champs are two from two despite missing their new key match-winners from WBBL|11
Wareham thrives in new role to guide Gades' red-hot start
Georgia Wareham is thriving under the added responsibility of leading the Renegades early in their title defence in WBBL|11 – but she remains adamant she can't wait to hand the captaincy back.
Wareham's back-to-back player-of-the-match performances have spearheaded the Renegades' 2-0 start to the season, an encouraging start in the absence of the two leading members of their WBBL|10 championship side.
The Australia star, who is standing in as captain with Sophie Molineux missing at least the first two games due to a quad complaint, picked up 2-25 and struck 58 from 32 deliveries on Tuesday to guide the Renegades to a comfortable win over Sydney Thunder.
It backed up her 3-12 and 16no in their opening win over Brisbane Heat.
"(I've) definitely got a lot more on the mind as captain," Wareham said on Tuesday.
"But I also think that probably helps me out a little bit out there and gets me out of my own head.
"It's been a privilege to be able to lead the side out there and lucky to be able to do it.
"It's been a different change, but the girls have been great ... they've been really easy to work with and made it pretty easy for me to come in to do the job, and the coaches have been awesome too.
"But I'm definitely going to be giving it straight back to Soph when she's back."
It is unclear whether Molineux will return for the Renegades' next encounter against the Strikers in Adelaide on Friday, or for Sunday's Melbourne derby.
For her part, Wareham is eager to welcome back her Australian teammate, whose on-field appearances were also limited during the ODI World Cup due to careful management of her workloads following her return from knee surgery.
Molineux's absence, from at least the start of WBBL|11, was another blow for the club after West Indies star Hayley Matthews, a force with bat and ball last season, was ruled out of the tournament after undergoing shoulder surgery.
While the spin-bowling allrounders led the way last season, another hallmark of the Renegades' successful campaign was their depth – a factor Wareham pointed to again on Tuesday.
Against the Thunder, the Renegades were at one point 5-73 in pursuit of their target of 149, but Wareham was joined by Nicole Faltum, whose unbeaten 37 from 26 coming in at No.7 was critical in what was ultimately a four-wicket win.
"That's what we did really well last year as well," Wareham said.
"Our top-order just taking the game on, that's where we want to play, we try and make the most of that Powerplay, and then just keep striving forward from there.
"Just having that belief that we've been in a lot of tricky positions, and been able to get out of it, definitely makes it a lot easier for the middle-order to get the job done.
"Falts has been so good at just coming in and being really calm and just going on with it.
"She's got a real fearless approach ... she's been so good at that over the last couple of years."
Weber WBBL|11 Standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HUR
|
10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.662 | 0 | 15 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | -0.313 | 0 | 13 |
|
3
SCO
|
10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.132 | 0 | 12 |
|
4
STA
|
10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.629 | 0 | 11 |
|
5
REN
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.121 | 0 | 10 |
|
6
STR
|
10 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0.077 | 0 | 9 |
|
7
THU
|
10 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | -0.124 | 0 | 9 |
|
8
HEA
|
10 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | -0.869 | 0 | 1 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points